In response to consumer preferences to use payment cards such as credit and debit cards to make purchases, many merchants today are purchasing and installing in their places of business payment processing solutions that include equipment and related services. The payment processing equipment and services allow merchants to accept a variety of payment cards from their customers. Although merchants may be charged fees for accepting such types of payments, the increased spending power provided by payment cards may result in higher per visit charges that offset the costs associated with the acceptance of the cards. Consumers may be reminded of items they need while shopping or simply make additional purchases on impulse. As a result, consumers may purchase more items with payment cards than they would if paying cash.
In response to merchant demand for payment processing solutions, many payment processing vendors provide integrated solutions that include card processing equipment as well as merchant account services for payment processing. The solutions may be designed to service multiple business categories such as retail, wholesale, mail order, and e-commerce businesses and may include components that can be customized to develop a system that best meets the merchant's specific business needs. The integrated solution approach allows the merchant to work with one vendor that provides all of the necessary equipment, installation services, and finally, payment processing services that allow the merchant to accept various types of payment cards at the merchant's place or places of business.
Although an integrated payment processing solution simplifies the process of acquiring, installing, and activating card processing equipment for merchants, it actually involves many different tasks that need to be completed by many members of a vendor team. It may involve preparing and approving paperwork associated with a merchant order, underwriting a merchant account, ordering equipment from OEMs, packing equipment for shipment to merchant locations, shipping packed equipment to merchant locations, scheduling appointments to install equipment at merchant locations, installing equipment at merchant locations, certifying equipment installed at merchant locations, etc. Each of the tasks may involve multiple subtasks. In some instances, the vendor may use internal business applications to track and monitor a small group of tasks associated with one phase in the process. Team members involved in completion of one phase in the process may have the ability to track progress within their area of responsibility. The business applications, however, execute independently of one another. Information cannot be shared between the applications so it is difficult or impossible to determine the overall status of a particular order. A sales agent that has placed an order on behalf of a merchant may need to consult multiple business applications or make multiple telephone calls to different vendor team members to determine whether an order for a merchant has been completed. If the order has not been completed, identifying the phase within the process and further identifying a problem in the process can be very time consuming for the sales agent.
There is a need for a computerized order tracking system for integrated payment processing systems that allows sales agents and other users to determine the status of a merchant order for a payment processing solution. There is also a need for a computerized order tracking system for payment processing solutions that integrates information from multiple internal business applications that assist members of a vendor team in providing a merchant with a payment processing solution.